HerAI: Dziwa

Viamo Inc.

HerAI: Dziwa

Provision of personalized family planning (FP) counseling via a voice-first GenAI Voice Companion (VC) to improve demand and self-care FP continuation

Saskatoon, SK, Canada

CAN

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

Globally, over 214 million women in low- and middle-income (LMICs) countries want to avoid pregnancy but are not using modern contraception, resulting in approximately 98 million unintended pregnancies annually (Guttmacher Institute). Key barriers include limited access to accurate information, stigma, and weak counseling systems that fail to support method continuation and informed decision-making. In Malawi, these challenges are stark. Fewer than half of women aged 15–49 use modern contraception (World Bank Gender Data Portal), and method choice remains limited—safe, discreet options like self-injectables are underused. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are 36% less likely than men to use mobile internet, leaving 215 million women offline across the region (GSMA 2023). While mobile phones are in 54% of Malawian households, internet access remains unequal with only 6% of women reported using the internet in the past year, compared to 17% of men (DHS) highlighting a persistent digital divide driven by low literacy, digital skill gaps, and high costs for data and smartphones. These realities severely limit the reach of internet-based health interventions. However, non-internet enabled phones offer a powerful channel for reaching women, even in low-resource and rural settings. Our solution, a FP-focused, GenAI voice companion (FP-VC), bridges the information poverty gap.

Viamo, in partnership with Population Services International (PSI), will provide women and girls in Malawi with confidential, personalized FP guidance in Chichewa via a GenAI VC (FP-VC), hosted on our existing toll-free Viamo Platform. Since 2023, Viamo has integrated GenAI into our IVR hotline to create dynamic, personalized conversations on any mobile phone—no internet or smartphone required. Callers simply dial a local number to speak with the VC in their language, receiving accurate guidance spoken back to them drawing only from the localized and expert-reviewed content. The solution uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), speech-to-text (STT), and text-to-speech (TTS) technologies, combined with a large language model (LLM), to deliver conversational responses in real time. The FP-VC offers 24/7 support and serves as a digital bridge between users and the health system. It provides pre-care demand generation and post-care continuation counseling - especially for self-injection contraceptives. By offering private, trusted, and on-demand support, the solution empowers women to make informed decisions and build confidence in self-care. A referral feature using location-based identifiers connects users to nearby PSI-supported health centers, closing the loop from awareness to access. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsstoC5jKaE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4riZaYdqmNA

Our solution directly serves women and girls in Malawi, particularly those living in low-resource, digitally excluded settings. These populations face persistent barriers to informed FP use—ranging from misinformation and stigma to weak provider capacity and limited service access. Malawi has one of the highest adolescent birth rates in Africa (136 per 1,000 girls aged 15–19), and fewer than half of women use modern contraception (UNFPA, World Bank). We aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of a GenAI FP-VC to deliver trusted, personalized FP counseling using technology they already have. Hosted on the Viamo Platform, the FP-VC is accessible 24/7 in Chichewa, helping users understand their options, build confidence in self-care (especially for self-injection), and connect directly to PSI-supported health facilities. We will leverage the existing Platform in Malawi, ensuring accessibility to our target audience at scale. We will target 60,000 women and girls (15-49) in Lilongwe, Kasungu, and Dowa—districts with urban and rural populations, low FP uptake, strong PSI referral networks, and high Viamo user bases. In 2025 alone, 178,000 users registered on the Viamo Platform in these areas—37% are women. This fills a critical counseling gap and offers a scalable, equitable model for FP access.